Solution of the Reactor Point Neutron Kinetic Equations with Temperature Feedback Control Using MATLAB-Simulink Toolbox

Abstract

Point kinetics equations are a system of stiff nonlinear ordinary equations. The solution of these equations provides a full understanding of neutron population’s behavior, which helps controlling the criticality of a nuclear reactor. Solving point kinetics equations numerically has been always challenging due to the stiffness problem. In this paper, a solution for one-group delayed neutrons with negative temperature feedback using Simulink toolbox of MATLAB is presented. The solution is applied to the kinetics equation using initial step reactivity ρ0=0.2β. A GUI controller is built to control the model’s input parameters. The results of the system are presented and compared with numerical methods. The variation along time of reactivity, temperature, and neutron density is analyzed.